Hesperocyparis forbesii
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Hesperocyparis forbesii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Genus
Common Names
- Tecate Cypress
Synonyms
- Callitropsis forbesii (Jeps.) D.P.Little
- Cupressus forbesii Jeps.
- Cupressus guadalupensis var. forbesii (Jeps.) Little
- Cupressus guadalupensis subsp. forbesii (Jeps.) R.M.Beauch.
- Neocupressus guadalupensis var. forbesii (Jeps.) de Laub.
Other taxa in genus
Editorial Note
The text below is from Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles (Bean 1976) where it appeared under the old name Cupressus forbesii. We have moved this text here, unaltered – apart from placing Bean’s comments on C. guadalupensis (now Hesperocyparis guadalupensis) on its own page – under the correct modern name with appropriate synonymy, to bring this account in line with modern taxonomic treatments. For an in-depth overview of the studies and ensuing taxonomic changes that prompted this change, see both the Hesperocyparis and Callitropsis genus accounts.
The main text for this and related taxa will be updated when sponsorship is forthcoming; if you would like to support the revision of these accounts please contact the editors.
TC, October 2024.
A small tree, usually less than 30 ft high, with numerous ascending branches and very distinct from the other Californian cypresses (except C. stephensonii) in its smooth, lustrous, cherry-red or brown bark, which peels in thin flakes. Leaves light green; resin-pits absent or inconspicuous. Cones grey or brownish, globose, about 1 in. wide, with rather short umbos. Seeds dark brown. A native of S. California, with two separate locations, one in San Diego Co., and the other in Orange Co.; it extends, but scarcely, into Mexico. This cypress, of recent introduction, is allied to C. guadalupensis S. Wats., a species confined to the island of Guadelupe, which lies off the coast of Lower California.
[For Bean’s brief discussion of Hesperocyparis guadalupensis (as Cupressus guadalupensis) that appeared in this position, see H. guadalupensis. TC, October 2024]